Change of Use / Change of Occupancy in Florence, Colorado

Florence requires a change of use / change of occupancy permit for: No standalone "Change of Use" or "Change of Occupancy" application exists — checked the Building Permits page (which lists only the Building Permit Application, Submittal Checklist, a monolithic-wall detail PDF, and a typical wall-section image) and the Building Department page directly; Governed by the City's own adopted 2006 International Existing Building Code (IEBC), per Florence Municipal Code § 15.08.050 — this local amendment section does not modify IEBC Chapter 10 (Change of Occupancy), so Chapter 10 governs as published by the ICC; Florence Municipal Code § 15.08.050(B) adds Section 101.9 (Public Toilet Facilities) to the adopted IEBC: no change of use may occur, and no Certificate of Occupancy may be issued, for a building with one or more employees or the general public unless there exists within the building an accessible toilet room with lavatory sink, open for employee/customer use at all times the building is occupied; Applied for using the same general Building Permit Application used for every Florence permit type — the form's "Describe Work" checkboxes (New Construction, Addition, Alteration, Repair, Move, Remove) do not include a dedicated "Change of Use" box; the form separately records "Occupancy Group/Division"; The Building Permit Application's "Special Approvals" routing table (Fire Department, Water Source, Sewage Disposal, Special Use, Other) applies to change-of-use projects the same as it does to any other building permit; Florence no longer requires a general City business license, per Colorado SB 22-0322 (effective July 1, 2022), which bars a local taxing jurisdiction from charging a general-business-license fee to a retailer holding a state standard retail license — confirmed directly on the City's own Businesses page; most use changes will not additionally require a separate City business-license application; Where alteration or construction work accompanies the use change, the standard Building Permit Application, Submittal Checklist requirements, and applicable fees (2.5% Fremont County + 2.5% Florence City use tax, Plan Check Fee, Building Permit Fee) apply as documented in this file's residential-addition-remodel permit-type entry. If your project isn't listed, confirm with City of Florence Building Department at (719) 784-4848 before starting work.

In Florence, the published Building Permit Fee / Plan Check Fee (only if construction accompanies the change) is: Not published as a numeric table. Additional published fees: Fremont County + Florence City Use Tax (only if construction accompanies the change) — 5% combined (2.5% + 2.5%) of the City's valuation of work. These are the jurisdiction's own published figures — see the fee schedule table and source citations on this page.

Florence does not publish a plan-review timeline for this permit. Contact City of Florence Building Department at (719) 784-4848 for current turnaround.

You'll need: Building Permit Application. Depending on your project, Florence may also ask for: Building Permit Application Submittal Checklist items. See the required-documents checklist on this page for details on each.

No. The space may not be occupied until a final inspection is completed and a Certificate of Occupancy is issued. Florence's own IEBC amendments (§ 15.08.050, Section 101.9) additionally condition Certificate of Occupancy issuance on the building having an accessible toilet room with lavatory sink if it will have employees or the general public present.

Apply through City of Florence Building Department at Florence Municipal Center, 600 West 3rd Street, Florence, CO 81226. Phone: (719) 784-4848, email: building@florencecolorado.org. Office hours: Main City Hall line (719) 784-4848 (option 6 reaches the Building Inspector directly); Fax (719) 784-0228. Building Inspector: David Wales, David.Wales@florencecolorado.org. Permit applications and supporting documents may also be submitted to john.vernetti@florencecolorado.org per the Building Permits page.. Official information: https://www.cityofflorenceco.gov/building-department.

Florence, Colorado has adopted: 2006 International Building Code (IBC) — City of Florence Building Department page states plainly: 'The City of Florence follows the 2006 International Building Code'; 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) — per the Building Permit Application Submittal Checklist (PDF): 'Energy Code – City of Florence adopts the 2006 Edition of the International Energy Conservation Code'; Florence Municipal Code Title 15 (Buildings and Construction), Section 15.04.040: 'The requirement for obtaining building permits relative to the construction, alteration, moving, demolition, repair, maintenance, and use of any building or structure within the City of Florence shall be governed by the most recent adopted edition of the appropriate adopted codes and building standards, including amendments thereto.' Per Municode search indexing of Title 15, Chapter 15.08 (amendments) is where local amendments to the 2006 IBC are set forth (Section 15.08.010).; Electrical: 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC) — administered by the State of Colorado, NOT the City (see localAmendments). Source: City of Florence Building Department page, linking to the Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations (DORA) Electrical Board page, which states the current adopted edition as the 2023 NEC.; Plumbing: 2021 (Colorado) Plumbing Code — administered by the State of Colorado, NOT the City. Source: City of Florence Building Department page, linking to the DORA Plumbing Board page, which lists the 2021 edition.; No separate local IRC, IMC, IFGC, or IFC edition is published by the City on its Building Department or Building Permits pages, or in the Building Permit Application Submittal Checklist — only the 2006 IBC (general building code) and 2006 IECC (energy code) are explicitly named by the City itself. The zero-tolerance policy governing this corpus prohibits inferring an IRC/IMC/IFGC/IFC edition the City has not itself published; note this as a gap rather than assuming a matching 2006 cycle for the unlisted codes.; HB22-1362 (Colorado statewide energy code floor, effective for jurisdictions adopting/updating codes on specified triggers starting July 2023 for larger jurisdictions and July 2026 for smaller ones) does not appear reflected on the City's Building Department page or Submittal Checklist, both of which still affirmatively state the 2006 IECC as current and were the live, actively-maintained pages as of this review (2026-07-06) — checked directly, no updated energy code notice found. Flagged honestly rather than assumed; Florence's population (under the HB22-1362 tiered compliance triggers) and its home-rule status both bear on whether/when the floor applies, but the City has not published any code update reflecting it as of this review.. Local amendments apply — see the Florence overview page for the full list.

No standalone permit or application exists. A use or occupancy classification change in an existing building is governed by the City's adopted 2006 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) Chapter 10 (unmodified by the City's own local amendments) and processed through the same general Building Permit Application used for all other permit types.